Posted by Sharon Schendel on Sep 10, 2017
Dr. David Wellis, CEO of the San Diego Blood Bank, gave an overview of the Bank's broad-ranging projects
The Bloodmobile will be returning to the St. Peter's parking lot September 14
One of 1,800 pints collected at the 2017 Comic-Con Robert A. Heinlin annual blood drive- a 50% increase over 2016
 
CEO of the San Diego Blood Bank (SDBB), Dr. David Wellis, visited our club to talk about the many innovations that SDBB is undertaking.   The Rotary Club of Del Mar has long supported the SDBB by publicizing blood drives held at the St. Peter’s Parking lot- the next one will be on September 14, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves!
 
A veteran of the biotech industry, Dr. Wellis said that SDBB, established in 1950, was the oldest establishment he’d worked for. Despite its age, Dr. Wellis has made SDBB one of the most innovative blood banks in the country, while still adhering to its long-standing mission statement: Saving lives with quality blood services in partnership with the community. Indeed, when disaster or tragedy strikes, San Diegans supported SDBB, whether by lining up to donate after the PSA plane crash in North Park in 1978, or providing blood in response to 9/11, when SDBB supplied some of the first additional blood to arrive in New York through a partnership with the Navy.
 
SDBB has 7 donor centers in San Diego and Orange Counties, and in FY2018 is projected to take in 125,000 donations. In addition to whole blood donations, SDBB donors also provide platelets and plasma.  SDBB also has one of the largest cord blood repositories in the nation and has already facilitated more than 150 blood marrow donor matches to treat leukemia patients.
 
Dr. Wellis leveraged his background in basic research to facilitate partnerships with the strong biotechnology community in Southern California. One of the partnerships resulted in Clearsate- a platelet derived product that can be used to substitute for fetal bovine serum that is critical for cell cultures used in basic and translational research. Clearsate makes use of platelets, which have a 5-day shelf life, that otherwise would be discarded. 
 
SDBB is now embarking on a partnership with the National Blood Collaborative as part of an award from the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) to enroll volunteers into the PMI Cohort program.  The PMI Cohort mission: “All of Us” addresses a main problem with many efforts to translate medicines from the lab to the clinic: a heavy reliance on Caucasians, particularly male Caucasians.  PMI Cohort volunteers will provide information about health history, grant access to their health records and mobile health devices, as well as provide blood and urine samples from individuals who have a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.  This information will be entered into a confidential database that can be accessed by researchers studying a wide range of diseases to give greater insight into how differences in genetics and health histories affect disease outcomes.  Dr. Wellis referenced a survey emailed to around 150,000 individuals to gauge interest in the PMI program. Within days, over 10,000 responded to express interest in filling one of the 70 slots.
 
But at its heart, SDBB gathers vital blood products, and donation rates can dip during the summer and holiday months. To address such decreases, SDBB hosts novel events, such as their long-standing Robert A. Heinlein blood drive at Comic-Con.  Heinlein was a science fiction writer who suffered from a disease for which he received many units of blood.  The Heinlein Blood drive is now 40 years old, and 2017 was one its biggest years with more than 1,800 pints collected.  In December SDBB will host “It’s in Our Blood”, an event aimed at maintaining blood supplies during the holidays when donation rates typically decrease. 
 
Overall, Dr. Wellis’s talk highlighted how SDBB has grown far beyond the realm of a typical blood bank, although donors remain at the heart of their services, so come to the Bloodmobile on September 14, or schedule an appointment at a SDBB donation center near you!